This invention relates to improvements in My Forward-Backward Molar Controlling and Positioning Dental Appliance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,178 and my Molar Controlling and Positioning Orthodontic Appliance Adjustable in Three Planes, U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,000. The appliance described in these inventions is used to produce backwards movement of molars and adjacent teeth when desired and stabilization of the molars against forward movement when they are being used as anchoring points in certain orthodontic procedures. The unyielding, tissue-covered basal bony areas behind the upper and lower front teeth are employed as stable anchoring regions; this is done by means of a semi-rigid pad whose soft, custom molded tissue surface is held in place against the anterior basal bony area in the maxilla or mandible.
A continuing problem has been the retention of the pad in place. A remedy adopted in the invention described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,000 was the use of metal plates firmly attached to forward teeth to hold the appliance in the mouth. This has resulted in a more complex system with increased installation time.
A second continuing problem has been the difficulty of adjustment and increasing of pressure. This has been caused by the use of turning capstans (see 15 and 15' in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,178). These devices require the inserting of a pin into a small opening, turning the capstan through approximately one quarter of a turn and then reinserting the pin into a succeeding small opening. The process is repeated on each side of the mouth until a proper adjustment is achieved.
It is an objective of the present invention to make the appliance retainable in the mouth but permitting easy removal when desired.
It is a second objective of the present invention to permit rapid pressure adjustment and to eliminate the use of turning capstans.
It is a third objective of the present invention to reduce the number of components in the appliance both for simplicity of use and economy of manufacture.
These and other objectives and the means used for their attainment will be apparent from the description of the invention presented below, and from the drawings.